December 12, 2013

"Without any training or experience, this guy applied for the job, got the job and fooled people for years by just putting on an elaborate show.."

"The fact that he was standing on stage next to a lot of important people put him beyond question in the minds of most people. Those who really understood that what he was saying actually made no sense were ignored. And now we have this South African interpreter doing the same thing."

ADDED: Also about the interpreter, from the same commenter (Bob Boyd):
He wasn't perfect, but his intentions were the very best.
His signs, though meaningless, were nuanced and brilliantly delivered.
He's obviously super smart, he has a palpable emotional connection with the common people and a true understanding of their struggle.
And:
Certainly this man wasn't what we have come to expect, but perhaps its our expectations that we need to examine.
Rather than yield to the demands of convention, this unknown agent of wonder has jarred us out of our complacency and showed us possibilities that only yesterday did not exist. This is the hallmark of a truly great interpreter. We have only to recognize him for what he is.
Do we really need to see things done the way they have always been done? Can we really not move beyond the comfortable, the familiar?
We could ask ourselves.
"What the fuck?"
Or we could ask a question that may bring true understanding.
Let not our efforts on behalf of the deaf make us blind.

33 comments:

Bob said...

You got me. Beautiful.

Bob said...

You got me. Beautiful.

tim in vermont said...

LO effin L

m stone said...

Kudos to Bob Boyd.

Makes you think.

Chef Mojo said...

Bob Boyd pretty much won the Internets today with that.

George M. Spencer said...

Excellent job of suck embracing.

Bravo, sir.

Ann Althouse said...

Not since that old woman who "restored" that painting of Jesus have we encountered such hilarious incompetence.

Rusty said...

He wasn't perfect, but his intentions were the very best.



The left in nutshell.

lemondog said...

He sounds entrepreneurial.

pm317 said...

That old lady ruined a painting. But these guys are ruining people's futures.

Nicely done, Bob Boyd.

Ann Althouse said...

Ruined it? She made it awesome. People love it. She found something new in what was old. Everyone loves her. People travel to that town now to see a painting no one cared about before.

George M. Spencer said...

Exactly, Professor.

Recontextualization.

Like the time Lou Reed played with Lawrence Welk.

ronalddewitt said...

I think that the Mandela Interpreter Prank would have equalled the Australian Olympic Torch Prank of 1956 if he had just had a plan to melt into the crowd when it was all over.

Ann Althouse said...

@St. George LOL

Anonymous said...

In all honesty, I have been laughing for two days over this incident. Quite literally, LOL'ing.

The Godfather said...

All great, unless you're deaf.

pm317 said...

She made it awesome.

Then where is the incompetence?

Big Mike said...

Exquisite

MnMark said...

Certainly this man wasn't what we have come to expect, but perhaps its our expectations that we need to examine.

My god is this a beautiful example of the lowering of expectations for blacks, especially African blacks.

Can white liberals really hear themselves saying this kind of stuff and believe it?

Can they see how very hard they have to work to keep up their inner illusions?

rhhardin said...

It improved Obama's speech enormously provided that you turned the sound off.

Try it with the sound off and you'll agree.

Anonymous said...

"Without any training or experience, this guy applied for the job, got the job and fooled people for years by just putting on an elaborate show.."

Why does every post have to be about Obama!?

Michael K said...

"
Can white liberals really hear themselves saying this kind of stuff and believe it?"

They don't have to believe it. It's too good to check.

Look at their president.

JoyD said...

I am sad that this is the big news. I mean, this is what some people are talking about?? What about the meaning and achievement of Nelson Mandela's lifework? Go ahead, howl, if you enjoy that.

William said...

He could have kept it going. He could have claimed that he was signing in Luo or Zulu or any language you don't speak or never heard of. It must be hard to spot a phony in a multilingual society.

Smilin' Jack said...

He wasn't perfect, but his intentions were the very best. His signs, though meaningless, were nuanced and brilliantly delivered.

Umm...so he is to signing as Bob Dylan is to singing?

RAS743 said...

I thought the headline was referring to Obama. My bad.

RAS743 said...

I thought the headline was referring to Obama. My bad.

Larry J said...

"Without any training or experience, this guy applied for the job, got the job and fooled people for years by just putting on an elaborate show.."

At least this guy just messed up things for the deaf people. That description fits Obama perfectly and he's messing up things for everybody.

Rusty said...
He wasn't perfect, but his intentions were the very best.

The left in nutshell.


Most definitely, yes. It also fits for those who measure success by the inputs to a process (spending) rather than the outputs (results).

MnMark said...

I am sad that this is the big news. I mean, this is what some people are talking about?? What about the meaning and achievement of Nelson Mandela's lifework?

Actually I think this sign-language interpreter fake is a kind of symbol of South Africa under black rule. The poorly-organized event, the stadium 1/3 empty, the rude and unruly audience booing and cheering in boisterous, undignified fashion, the fake interpreter placed up on stage because he could wave his hands around in the fashion that Europeans do at big speeches (without understanding there is supposed to be meaning behind the hand-waving, or else the incompetence to actually check the guy's credentials) - it all symbolizes what Mandela *actually* means to South Africa. Not the white-liberal-created god-image, but the actual reality of a black-ruled country.

MnMark said...

He wasn't perfect, but his intentions were the very best.

He wasn't "perfect"????

It's not that he wasn't perfect - he wasn't anything! He didn't do any real sign language at all! You can't even qualify for "incompetent" if you literally do not know how to do any of the task. You're below incompetent - you're a complete fraud.

Talk about lowering the bar! You do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, and white liberals rush in to excuse it as "not perfect".

Unbelievable.

Bill said...

"South Africa’s African National Congress today announced that it has fired sign language interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie and plans to replace him with veteran interpreter for the deaf Garrett Morris."
http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2013/12/anc-hires-garrett-morris-as-sign-language-interpreter-2578986.html

SineWaveII said...

""Without any training or experience, this guy applied for the job, got the job and fooled people for years by just putting on an elaborate show..""

...but enough about Barack Obama... let's talk about that interpreter..

Unknown said...

were you going to say something about the interpreter as well? or was this statement only about president Obamacare